


Messy Crayon Wishes

by elliemoran



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Adoption, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Baby Eren, Childcare, Implied/Referenced Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, M/M, Mikasa Ackerman & Levi Are Related, Minor Levi/Petra Ral, Parent-Child Relationship, Platonic Relationships
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-24
Updated: 2019-12-24
Packaged: 2021-02-27 00:55:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,659
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21928669
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/elliemoran/pseuds/elliemoran
Summary: Levi has two favorite people in the world. One is his cousin Mikasa, and the other is Mikasa's very entertaining baby brother, Eren.
Relationships: Levi & Eren Yeager
Comments: 16
Kudos: 213





	Messy Crayon Wishes

**Author's Note:**

> I've been thinking this story for a long while. It's essentially pure fluff layered over a little angst, and for once I'm actually finishing something in time to post on the day it's meant to be posted on - Christmas Eve :)

As Levi started up the path towards the creaky old two-story home that held Eren’s daycare, he was glad to see the kid didn’t seem to be showing any signs of distress. Sitting on the porch swing beside his favorite teacher, he looked animated as ever, with his mittened hands waving through the air while he chattered away at Petra.

When her patiently amused gaze shifted up to meet Levi’s, Eren’s head whipped around.

“Levi!” Eren’s face lit up. Scooting forward, he slid off the bench and started running.

The brat hadn’t bothered to put his shoes on again. 

With the ease of long experience, Levi moved quickly to catch the kid before he threw himself off the porch.

Lifting Eren up onto his hip, Levi glanced up at Petra as she stood on the top step, her arms wrapped around herself against the cold.

“Are we all set?”

She nodded. “Yes, Mikasa called and let us know you’d be the one coming for him.” As Eren’s adoptive sister’s biological cousin, Levi wasn’t legally related to him, so even though everyone at the daycare knew their situation they all had to observe the formalities.

“Good.” He looked down at the kid. “You ready?”

Eren threw his hands up in the air as he beamed up at Levi. “Let’s go!”

Levi raised a brow. “Uh-huh. What about your boots?”

Eren’s mouth formed an ‘o’ of surprise as he stuck out a foot and stared at his bright blue sock.

“Oops.” He looked back up, and as the surprise slid away, the look that replaced it told Levi exactly what he was planning on saying next. “Shi-“

Levi’s finger under his chin cut him off.

The brat grinned up at him. “Shoot!”

“Right.” Shaking his head, Levi leaned forward to set Eren back down on the porch. “Go put on your boots.”

“Okay.” The kid scampered back inside, and Levi looked up at Petra.

She had a hand over her mouth, but he could still see the smile on her face.

“He’d better not be doing that all the time.”

She shook her head. “No. Only when you’re around.” She laughed. “But I think he might have overheard Zoe today when they dropped a jar of paint. I saw him mouthing something to himself afterwards, so I’m pretty sure he was memorizing some new words to try out.”

“Great.” Levi huffed out a breath. “I’ll avoid taking him anyplace with too many people for a while.”

“Sorry.”

Levi shook his head. “He’ll forget it all soon enough.” In any case, both he and Mikasa slipped enough that he was surprised the kid didn’t swear more. “And thank you for keeping him so late this afternoon, Mikasa told me you were supposed to shut early today.”

“It’s okay. He’s a fun kid.”

“He is that.”

“Um, by the way. About tonight.” Petra tightened her arms around herself. “I guess you won’t be able to make it, after all?”

Levi blinked. “Why not? I told Mikasa I’d already promised to do something this evening so I could only look after him for a little while. You said you needed help at your new place, right?”

Her eyes searched his face for a moment, before shifting to the side. “Well actually, I have a thing tonight. So I can’t.”

“A thing?”

“Yeah. A thing. With my parents. Christmas Eve and all.” She laughed, though it sounded a little odd. “I’d forgotten all about it.”

“I thought your parents were driving back into town tomorrow afternoon?”

Her eyes flashed back to his, and she looked surprised, for some reason. She huffed out a laugh. This one didn’t sound quite so forced. “I got it mixed up.”

She sighed, and glanced back at the still closed front door before moving down to the bottom step, only a foot away from Levi. “Eren was acting a little strange this morning, so I called his house to find out if he’d had one of his fevers, and Mr. Yeager-” She cut herself off as Eren came stomping back out with boots on.

“Ready!”

“Got everything?” Levi leaned down to pick him up and settle him back on his hip.

“Yep.”

Levi looked up at Petra. She’d backed up a step and was shifting uncomfortably. “Mr. Yeager sounded…unwell.” Glancing down at Eren, she bit her lip. “And a little _upset_. So when he didn’t show to pick up Eren when he was supposed to I… and Mikasa told me she’s on the long shift today. I just was thinking it’d be better if Eren had another place to stay tonight.”

“Got it.” Levi felt the small arms tighten around his neck, and a wave of familiar anger ran through his gut. Petra was saying – as delicately as possible – that the bastard had sounded drunk, and violent with it. She had no way of knowing that Eren was well aware of all the euphemisms for his father’s particular illness. “Then it’s lucky your parents are in town this evening, after all. Let me know If you still need help with the heavy lifting. Or I can come over one afternoon and get it done while you’re at work, if that’s easier.”

“Sure, Levi.” She smiled softly, even as she retreated backwards, up another stair. “See you around.”

\--

“You idiot. That had nothing to do with ‘heavy lifting’. She’s been _trying_ to seduce you.”

“That’s impossible, Mikasa.” Levi glanced in the rearview mirror. Eren was staring out the window, his lips moving and his feet bopping along to whatever music was coming out of the headphones Levi had jammed over his head before they’d set out. “She just needed help moving some stuff, that’s all.”

Mikasa snorted, the sound clear and disdainful as it poured out of Levi’s phone on the dash of his car. “It’s Christmas Eve, moron. She pretended her parents were out of town. She moved into her new place _months_ ago and now all of a sudden she has all these still packed boxes she needs help moving? _Petra_? I don’t think so.”

“It’s not like that. She said she just needed some help with the last few boxes, and then she wanted someone to test the dinner she was making for her parents for tomorrow, since she’d never made it before.”

“Yeah, and then she’d probably pull out a bottle of wine and be all like ‘Oh you’ve helped me so much, let me treat you to a glass as a thank you.’” Mikasa’s voice lilted in a bad imitation of Petra. “And then she’d say ‘why don’t we just finish this bottle?’, and _then_ she’d strip herself naked and drag you off to bed for a fun night of Christmas sex.”

Levi shot a glance back at Eren, relieved to find him still staring out the window. The distraction wouldn’t last, he knew, but at least he wouldn’t have to explain that particular word just yet. “Petra isn’t interested in me like that.” 

“Uh-huh. This is the woman who ‘tripped’ over nothing and landed in your lap at last month’s reading night at the library?”

“That was an accident.”

“Right. And that time you went over to fix her leaky pipe that turned out to be nothing, did she or did she not call you into her bedroom to help her zip up her dress, said dress being almost completely nonexistent and her wearing nothing but skimpy undies underneath?”

“It wasn’t underwear, it was some sort of lace slip thing. And the zipper really was stuck.” Levi ignored the sound Mikasa made as he continued, “I think I’d know if she was trying for me.”

“Yeah, sure. For a smart guy you’re a real idiot when it comes to shi- to stuff like that.”

“You’re not exactly great at reading signals, either.”

“And that’s just one of the many reasons both of us are single on Christmas Eve.” Mikasa sighed, and Levi heard a burst of noise in the background. She’d be in the nurse’s breakroom, he knew, taking what escape she could from the madness that was a hospital during the holidays. “The poor girl has been trying to get in your pants for forever, and you just keep blowing her off. She’ll start taking it personally soon.”

Levi thought of the look on Petra’s face, just before he’d walked away. He shifted a little uncomfortably in his seat. “Maybe.” 

“Still, she’s a good person. Giving up her hot date so you can be with Eren. I wasn’t sure what I was going to do.” Mikasa paused, sighed again. “It’s flu season, so not only are all the wards full, but we’re shorthanded too.”

“Its fine. I don’t have any shifts for a couple days, and no classes until after New Years.” He tapped his fingers on the steering wheel. “Will your dad cause trouble if we keep Eren away from home for a bit?” 

“Not my dad. Grisha.” Mikasa corrected absently, as she always did. She was quiet for a long moment, and Levi heard the noise amp up as a door opened in the background again. “Is the nosy one occupied?”

“Now you ask? If he starts asking me what Christmas sex is, I’m telling him to ask you.” But Levi glanced in rearview mirror to double check. “Yeah, for now.”

“I went by the house, when Dad didn’t pick up Eren, just to make sure he hadn’t keeled over. No such luck, but he’d trashed the tree, ripped all the decorations off the walls all over the house. Took the cupcakes some nice neighbor dropped off and smashed them on the kitchen floor. I asked him what I was supposed to tell Eren. He said he didn’t give a fuc- a fudge, it’s his house, his tree, his _kid_ , he pays the dam- darned bills. Blah blah blah.”

As always, she didn’t seem to notice she’d called her adoptive father ‘Dad’. And, as always, Levi didn’t mention it. “Being his usual wonderful drunk self, then.”

“Yeah. I told him to go fudge himself, and that Eren was staying at a friend’s house for a few days. Didn’t mention you by name, of course, since he hates your guts.”

“Break someone’s nose once and they never let it go. Did he trash Eren’s presents too?”

“No, I kept those hidden in the trunk of my car, since the nosy one gets more nosy by the day. I’ll bring them over after my shift finishes. Supposed to be nine, so way things are going I figure I’ll see you maybe by eleven.”

“Ok. Tomorrow it is, then.”

“Hah-hah. Man, I hope not.” 

Even as Levi hung up, he saw something bright and orange out of the corner of his eye. Almost as soon as he realized what it was he was pulling the car into a tight u-turn and parking at the side of the road. He opened the back door to find Eren scowling up at him, the headphones in his hands.

“Why’d we stop?” He stretched in the carseat, looking around the outside of the car warily. “This isn’t your house.”

“It’s a surprise.” Levi eyed Eren’s bare feet. He’d managed to pull his shoes off again, and this time his socks had disappeared too. “But you have to wear your boots to find out.”

Eren puffed out his cheeks, eying Levi suspiciously. “Do I _really_ have to?”

Levi nodded. “But if you don’t want to know what the surprise is, you can just stay like this and we’ll go home.” He moved back, as if to close the door again.

Eren let out a long-suffering sigh. “It better be a _good_ surprise.”

“Promise.”

Socks, boots, coat, scarf, hat, and favorite backpack finally back on, they walked hand in hand down the street and into a small Christmas tree lot, surrounded by orange plastic fencing laced through with strings of lights, glowing dimly in the winter sunlight.

Eren glanced around the almost empty enclosure, clearly not understanding why they were there.

Levi squeezed his hand. “Okay, Eren. Let’s pick one.”

“Pick one?”

“Right. Pick a tree. This will be our tree. Yours, Mikasa’s, and mine.”

Eren’s tiny hand squeezed Levi’s fingers as he stared up at him, his wide eyes fastening onto Levi’s face. “Ours?”

“Yeah.”

“Only ours?”

“Right. We’ll put it up and decorate it so Mikasa can see when she comes over.”

Eren hesitated, and moved in a little closer to Levi’s leg before asking, in a much quieter, softer voice, “Is Dad coming over, too?”

The look on his face almost broke Levi’s heart. “Not this time, kid. It’ll just be the three of us.”

“Alright.” Eren nodded slowly, and then smiled up at Levi. “Then we have to pick out the very, very best tree, okay?”

“It’s a deal.”

\--

One huge tree and one relatively inexpensive trip to the store later – it was already Christmas Eve, after all, and almost everything tree related was on sale – they finally had the thing up in Levi’s apartment. It was so big that the top branches bent over against the ceiling.

Dancing with excitement, Eren darted around the tree, directing Levi as they hung the baubles they’d picked up.

“Here?”

“No, higher!”

“Are you sure? We have a lot of empty space in the middle now.”

“It needs to go high up.”

“Okay then.” Since Eren could only reach about halfway up, and since he’d insisted Levi hang all his decorations near the top, there was a good two feet almost entirely empty of decorations in the middle.

But hey, at least the kid was happy. 

“When will Mikasa be here?” Eren asked, for possibly the millionth time.

“Your sister is coming late tonight, after you go to bed. You’ll see her in the morning.”

“But what time after I go to bed?”

“What does it matter? You’ll be asleep.”

Eren stopped dancing around long enough to scowl up at Levi. “Just answer the question, will you?”

Levi felt his lip twitch, and quickly turned his face away so Eren wouldn’t see his smile. It was always best not to encourage the brat. “She said work might keep her late, so she wasn’t sure.”

“She’ll be here before midnight, right?”

“She’ll try.” 

“Okay.” Eren nodded to himself, evidently satisfied, and stood on tiptoe to hang a sparkly bauble on the lower half of the tree.

\--

Long after Eren had fallen asleep on the couch in front of the tree, Levi poured boiling water into two mugs as Mikasa hitched herself up onto the counter beside him.

He shot her a look. “That’s for food. You’re not food. Get off.”

“Don’t be so fussy. You’ll hose it down before you cook anything on it, anyway.”

“That doesn’t mean I want your ass on there in the meantime.” But the shadows under Mikasa’s eyes were deep enough that Levi let it go, mostly. He pulled out a bottle of bleach wipes and pointedly set it next to her hip. “Wipe it off when you get down. Thoroughly.”

She rolled her eyes. “Yeah, yeah. You’re such a clean freak.”

“And you’re such a heathen.” Levi lifted the tea bag from her cup, strained it.

“And proud of it.” Mikasa rested her head back against the cabinet behind her and smiled ruefully at Levi. “Who would believe we’re actually related?”

“It’s a mystery.” Handing Mikasa one of the mugs, Levi took his own, leaning back against the oven as he studied her. She really did look tired. And there was something else in her eyes. Something sad.

It made him want to break something.

He’d tracked her down mainly out of curiosity, but it had taken less than an hour of her prickly company for him to realize he actually liked her. It hadn’t taken him much longer than that to realize she wasn’t happy. Over the years she’d become his family, and since he’d do anything for his family, he’d rearranged his life to try and make hers a little better.

And then her baby brother had wrapped his sticky little fingers around Levi’s heart, and the family had grown by one more.

“It must have been a bad scene, when you went back home today.”

“No worse than usual. I just thought- Dad hadn’t been this drunk in a while. I was starting to think maybe something had changed.”

“It won’t be that simple.”

“I know it.” She stared down at the steam rising out of her cup. “I just- I had to leave for work early this morning. Mr. Arlert called me and said Eren was waiting outside the house, by the street, when he came by with Armin to pick him up for the daycare carpool. He wondered why we’d let him outside on his own. He said Eren was a little quiet, nothing too alarming, but just- quiet.”

She lifted her gaze back up to meet Levi’s, and he saw there was guilt mixed in, too. “I think Dad must have done at least some of the house trashing while Eren was home. And from the garbage he spewed out when I was there, he maybe said something to him too.” She shrugged. “I don’t know. I’m just not sure we’re doing the right thing.”

“This isn’t forever. When we have the resources saved up, you’ll file for custody.”

“And in the meantime?”

“Eren’ll be okay for now. He’s got us.”

“He does. He always will” Her chin jutted up, and Levi was relieved to see heat start to replace the complicated mix of emotions in her eyes.

“See? It’s just a matter of time.”

She blinked, and then cocked her head at him. “You’re pretty smart for such a stupid guy, aren’t you?”

Levi paused, mug halfway to his lips. “Excuse me?”

“You heard me. You and Petra, huh?” 

“There is no me and Petra.”

She lifted the cup he’d handed her, took her first delicate sip. “She wants there to be.”

“So you say.”

“Come on, Levi, I was mostly kidding about the stupid. Even if you are signal-blind, you have to have figured it out, now that I said something, right?”

Scowling down into his tea, Levi shrugged. “Maybe. So what? It wouldn’t work, anyway.”

“Not with that attitude it won’t.”

“I’m not interested in a relationship right now.”

“Why?”

“It’d just get complicated. There’s too much going on.”

Mikasa studied Levi for a long minute, and then shifted her eyes away as she took another sip from her cup. “Bet you wish you’d never tracked me down now, huh?”

Levi stretched a leg out, kicked at Mikasa’s foot. “Knock it off, Mikasa. I don’t regret finding you, or Eren, and I never will.”

She wrinkled her nose at him. “That’s so sappy. I think I’m gonna vomit.”

“Not in here you won’t.”

She laughed, and he knew she’d gotten over the worst of the sadness. “We’ll keep him here as long as possible. Dad’ll sober up, remember he’s supposed to be a father. I’ll have to bring him home.”

“And then when your dad gets drunk again we’ll-” 

“Not my dad.” She interrupted him.

“Sorry. Grisha. When he gets drunk again we’ll-”

“Which hopefully won’t be for a while.”

“When it does,” Levi continued on, “We’ll step in. Bring him back here for a while.” He considered for a long second, remembering that afternoon. “I think by next year I’ll have to find an apartment with taller ceilings for the tree he’ll insist on. I had a hard time talking him into this one.”

Mikasa grinned at him. “He’s a great kid.”

“Levi?” Eren’s voice made them both turn towards the door of the kitchen. Scrubbing at his eyes, hair stuck up all over his head, Eren wandered in. His eyes landed on his sister and he brightened. “Mikasa!” 

“Hey kid.” She slid off the counter and moved to scrub at his hair, turning it into even more of a mess.

He ducked away, grabbing her hand and tugging urgently at it until she crouched in front of him. He side-eyed Levi as he whispered loudly into her ear, “Did you bring it?”

“Bring what?”

“The thing. You _know_.”

Clearly playing with him, she tapped a finger on her lips and looked up at the ceiling. “What thing would that be?”

“ _Mikasa._ ”

She grinned at him. “Aren’t you happy to see me?”

“I am, but, Mikasa.” He was almost dancing in place from impatience.

She kissed his cheek with a loud smooch, making him giggle, then turned him to face the living room. “It’s in my purse, by the door. Don’t look in the other bag, oh nosy one.”

With another giggle, Eren ran out of the room.

Mikasa shot Levi a look as she stood. “I bet you’re gonna cry.”

“I am not.”

She picked her tea back up, took a slow sip. “Bet.”

Eren dashed back in and handed Levi a brown envelope.

Slowly, Levi ripped it open. There was a sheet of paper inside, folded in half. When he opened it, he found a hand drawn message, written in messy crayon over neat pencil lines.

_To Levi. Happy Birthday. I like you a lot. Thanks for being my family. Eren_

Levi ran the pad of his finger over the waxy crayon, and felt something burning the back of his eyes.

“Mikasa helped me write it, but I picked the words.” Bouncing on his toes, Eren watched Levi’s face. “I had to wake up tonight because I had to tell you happy birthday as soon as I could, and give you your card.”

“Thanks kid.” Levi folded the paper delicately, treating it like the treasure it was. “It’s the best birthday card, ever.”

“Really?”

“Yeah.” When Levi crouched down and wrapped Eren in a hug, he looked up at Mikasa.

And wasn’t even mad when she mouthed ‘told you so’ at him.


End file.
